Impressions

The Blues Ain't No Mockingbird - Toni Bambara

This is a very intimate piece written from the point of view of a small child. It is intimate, because it is told in the colloquial. The setting is the south. The county is making a documentary (a survey?) for the food-stamps program, and two men, dubbed "Camera" and "Smilin" by the children, are intruding at Granddaddy Cain's place, where the children are playing outside. The piece is about dignity and respect. The entire piece is a "scene". There is conflict from the get go, and there is a threat of great violence.